Two days ago, news reports claimed that Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest IT services company, had declared 100% of the target variable pay to all its India employees for the third quarter of this financial year. And now rival Infosys has followed suit.

As digitisation and automation become the new normal, IT biggies like Infosys, Cognizant and Tech Mahindra are seeing a spate of layoffs and this trend may continue for the next 1-2 years, say experts.

At present, the sector is witnessing layoffs on a major scale for the first time since 2008-10 downturn. With a relatvely slow growth and firms looking forward to hire techies from the US, the future can hold more job cuts.

With hundreds of employees being handed out pink slips by companies such as Snapdeal and Stayzilla, rival e-commerce firm Paytm is walking into the ring by offering generous job offers to laid-off staffers.

Hit by a cash crunch, e-commerce company AskMe has decided to shut shop, leaving 4,000 staffers jobless, while its majority investor Astro said it will appoint a forensic auditor to review the books of the startup's parent firm Getit.

Companies that traditionally have made most of their money selling computers, chips, servers, routers and other equipment are especially vulnerable, analysts say, as mobile applications and cloud computing become increasingly important.